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Don’t blame the dog

When it comes to molds, there are few that could be called beautiful. We certainly don’t want mold in the garden.

But some molds are playing a mean trick on the household dog.

Hopefully, you’re not reading this column over breakfast or lunch. The picture illustrates a pile of dog vomit slime mold, also known as dog vomit fungus, that Greta Lint of Asheboro found in her landscape recently. The name says it all. It looks exactly like something the dog couldn’t keep down.

Fortunately, there is a lot of good news here. First of all, your dog isn’t sick. Secondly, he’s not desecrating your flower bed.

Equally important, your garden isn’t going to disintegrate into a moldy mess if this pops up.

Dog vomit slime mold, technically Fuligo spetica, shows up in the spring and early summer in our area when temperatures are mild and the weather is wet. I’ve never seen it on anything other than hardwood mulch. Some sources indicate it can also crop up in pine mulch.

I’m not sure what its purpose is in the natural world except possibly to help break down dead organic material.

The control measure for this or any other slime mold is easy — ignore it. If you don’t look at it, it won’t bother you.

You could rake it out and let it air dry. Of course, then the spores are going to drift into other areas of your mulch and it will look like a pack of dogs tossed their doggie cookies in the shrub border.

If you simply can’t look away, scoop it up (just go get your pooper-scooper) and contribute it to the nearest trash can. Let the county or city deal with it.

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Here’s an idea for those who want to get their garden or landscape in order.

In “The Garden Journal: The Essentials,” master gardener Liane Doxey has developed a structured journal that allows green thumbs to record their garden plans, challenges and triumphs. Her gardener’s log will allow users to record the bloom cycle of their plants, seed germination dates, purchases, planning diagrams and much more. Doxey notes that most experts recommend keeping a journal to develop a nuanced understanding of a garden’s soil qualities, plantings, strengths and weaknesses. While many gardeners love the journal idea in theory, many skip the practice because they are not sure what to record and when. This book takes out all the guesswork with careful formatting that lists all the essential subjects to log.

“The Garden Journal: The Essentials” is available for sale online at Amazon.com.